Jeff Taylor takes Jeg’s Drag Pak to victory in weird Gainesville LODRS race

From Geoff Stunkard

Noted NHRA sportsman driver Jeff Taylor is normally found in GM iron, but was behind the wheel of the 2010 Challenger Drag Pak that he has been prepping for Jeg Coughlin Jr. when he ended up in the winner’s circle at the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event in Gainesville on February 19. Due to excessive rain and strong winds, the event’s competition length was shortened to an 1/8 mile in the interest of safety after the first round. So, after qualifying with a 10.14 on the 11.00 index, Taylor waded through a field of 61 competitors using 6.20-6.30 times before meeting Bill Fiest in the money round. An .005 light was enough to put the yellow Dodge into the winner’s circle. Coughlin stated in a recent interview the car had not been to his liking, and Taylor, who had been doing some work on the A/SA, obviously found something. As of this writing, Coughlin is hoping to drive it at the national event held on the same track in early March.

Mopar was not as successful at the Full Throttle event in Phoenix’s Firebird Raceway being held the same day. Vincent Nobile, Allen Johnson, and Jeg Coughlin all made the program, but only Nobile advanced past the first frame, where a red-light ended his hopes. In funny car action, Johnny Grey in Schumacher Racing’s Big O Tires Charger took the top spot in qualifying, with teammates Matt Hagen, Jack Beckman, and Ron Capps also in the program; New Zealander Grant Downing got the final spot in the Chuck Worsham machine to make it five Dodges going into the finals. However, track conditions on Sunday created frustration for most of the crew chiefs, and Beckman was the only Dodge to get to the semifinals, where he fell to Mike Neff.